That's one of the great things about
Movember
, a month-long charity event which raises funds and awareness for men's health issues, without participants having to do anything more than engage in a bit of basic grooming.

The concept is simple: at the beginning of November, guys (henceforth known as Mo Bros) register with Movember, shave clean and then spend the rest of the month doing growing a moustache of any shape or size.

Movember is the brainchild of 30 guys in Australia who in November 2003 placed a bet to see who could grow the best moustache (Mo) over the course of a month. They soon realised the fund-raising potential of the Mo and decided to attach a purpose to the project. They decided on men's health issues.

Today the concept has been rolled out into nine countries and has raised £60,000,000. The Movember Foundation - a not for profit organisation - claims to be the largest non-governmental fund raiser for prostate cancer in the world. It's been active in the UK for three years, and last year brought in £5million for its beneficiary charity partner,
The Prostate Cancer Charity
. A proportion of this money is then donated to
Everyman
, which funds research into prostate and testicular cancer.

To help entice as many guys as possible to sign up to Movember this year, we're running a series of online competitions where Mo Bros are invited to upload pictures of their moustaches in progress. In keeping with the theme of this year's Movember - the Modern Gentleman - we've got great prizes from the likes of
Debrett's,Toms
shoes,
Dermalogica
and
Murdock,
who are supporting the initiative in a number of ways. There's even a £1,000 shopping spree at
Liberty
for our overall favourite Mo of the month.

We'll give you more details of how to enter our fabulous competition nearer the time, so for now just sign up via the
Movember's website,
and get ready to grow your Mo. And remember, if there was ever a bullet proof defence for doing something that makes you look like an absolute tit, it is the beautifully simple line: 'I'm doing it for charity.'